Trakis

Trakis · Rules

http:// serves the site instead of redirecting to https://

The site answering over plain http:// instead of redirecting to https://. Anyone who types the address without https gets an unencrypted copy, and search engines see a second site next to the secure one. Browsers mark http pages as not secure.

WarningCRAWL-009 · Crawlability · checked once for the whole site

Where it usually comes from

The certificate was added to the site, but plain http was left answering. Hosts often have an "Always use HTTPS" switch that is off by default.

How to fix it

  • Redirect every http:// request to https:// with a 301.
  • Most hosts and CDNs have a single switch for it ("Always use HTTPS"); use that before writing rules.
  • Once it works everywhere, add the Strict-Transport-Security header so browsers stop asking over http.
nginx
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name www.example.com;
    return 301 https://www.example.com$request_uri;
}
header, once https works
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains

Shown for an example shop at www.example.com. In a Trakis report the same fix comes with your own addresses and the list of your pages it applies to.

How to check it yourself

Type http:// followed by your address into the browser. It should switch to https:// by itself; if it stays on http, the redirect is missing.

What it looks like in a report

Warning http://www.example.com answers with the page over plain http instead of sending to https.

The certificate works; only the redirect from http is missing. (An example shop; the numbers are illustrative.)

How the audit counts it

CRAWL-009 is a warning in the crawlability category, and weighs moderately in that category’s score. It is a fact about the site as a whole, so it is reported once, not once per page.

If the finding is deliberate on your site, it can be accepted as intentional in the report. It then leaves the list and the score, and comes back on its own if what it shows changes.

Other crawlability checks

Find it on your site

A Trakis audit runs this check and the other 65 on your site, and tells you on how many pages each one sits. Or go back to all the rules.